Sharif Government to send instant message to Mujahideens

3 August 1999The Indian Express

ISLAMABAD: Concerned at the verbal assault by mujahideens on their withdrawal from Kargil, the Nawaz Sharif Government has decided to send "instant message" to them to "cool down" in the larger interest of the country.

The issue was discussed at length at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Nawaz Sharif last week and a senior official was assigned to convey the message to the mujahideen ogranisation to "hold restraint" and "cool down", English daily, The News reported today quoting sources in the government.

Mujahideens are up in arms against the Sharif Government's decision to withdraw intruders from Kargil and held massive rallies in different parts of the country demanding the resignation of the premier.

The report further said that the Cabinet, specially the Prime Minister, was quite concerned about the statements of the mujahideen leaders issued in the post-Kargil episode which, "not only seems to be in contradiction to what the government says but is also detrimental to the position Islamabad has upheld after the Washington deal".

Among the mujahideen leaders that are to be conveyed the Cabinet's concerns are Hizbul Mujahideen and Al-Badr Mujahideen, the report said.

Incidentally, both these organisations have been very active in Kargil operation and have links with the hard-line religious party Jamaat-E--Islami, which has already launched a country-wide anti-government agitation over the Kargil withdrawal.

But despite Cabinet's directive to restrain the mujahideen organisations the chief of the Al-Badr Mujahideen, Bakht Zameen Khan, held a press conference in nearby Rawalpindi yesterday and condemned the signing of Washington accord by the government and made it clear that its mujahideen would not withdraw from the Kargil.